Page 30 of Sold Rejected Mate
There’s nothing soft or sensual about the way he slides his tongue into my mouth, desperate, searching like he wants to lick up every last drop of me.
I gasp and gasp against him—nothing we did in high school waseverlike this. He treated me like porcelain back then. And as much as it made me shiver in anticipation, always wanting more, I would be lying if I said I didn’t wantthis.
Even if he doesn’t quite remember who I am. Even if he’s not about to fuck Valerie Foley, but the stray he took in off the street.
I don’t care.
The only thing I can think about is the way he presses against me, the delicious, molten pressure of that contact.
But just as he turns, clearly starting the walk to his room, something horrible happens.
His phone starts to ring. I cling to him, ignoring it, arching my chest against his and praying—to every single god I can think of—that maybe Lachlan will ignore it, too.
But he doesn’t. He sets me down gently, kissing me once more before he reaches into his pocket and pulls it out, his dark, hungry eyes adjusting and readjusting.
Looking at me, he says hoarsely, “It’s a fire.”
And with that, he’s turning around and walking away, leaving me weak-kneed and panting, with not so much as a promise that we’ll pick this up when he gets back.
***
Lachlan has only been gone for five minutes when there’s a knock on the door, and I have to stand with my still-shaking legs to answer it.
“Phina?” I’ve barely opened it before she’s pushing through, her daughter once again with her, their blond heads bobbing in tandem as they walk inside.
“Hello, Valerie,” Nora says, waving a little, like it’s not the strangest thing in the world that she and her mother are pushing into Lachlan’s house like they own it.
Phina stops, turns around, and puts her hands on her hips. “You need to tell him.”
“Phina—”
“Stop. Nora, go sit in the living room, please. Valerie and I are going to talk in the kitchen.”
Nora pulls a tablet out of her bag and walks happily to the living room, singing something about sea life under her breath.
“Shouldn’t she be in school?” I ask.
“First, she’s home-schooled, and second, don’t deflect. Valerie, Isawthe way Lachlan looked at you. What the hell is going on between you two?”
My cheeks—which were already hot—only burn more as I follow her into the kitchen. “Nothing’s going on.”
“Bullshit. I saw him open the door for you when you were leaving the pack hall.”
“He’s a gentleman like that.”
“No, he’s really not,” Phina says, her eyes sharp. “I’ve watched Lachlan gallivant around with plenty of other women, and I’ve never seen him open the door for a single one.”
“Well, that’s not very nice—”
“You are beingsoobtuse,” Phina says, laughing as she tries to keep her voice down. “He’s protective, and he looks at you like…like…”
“Likewhat?”
“Helooks atyouthe wayXeranlooks atme.”
That hangs between us for a second, and I try to ignore the way it makes me feel. The weight of that statement.
“It doesn’t matter, Phina.”
